Jun 23, 2017

7th Pay Commission: Modi met Jaitley to discuss allowances, wait likely to be over on June 28 - INDIA TODAY

Central government employees can rejoice as the wait for revised allowances under the Seventh Pay Commission could end next week.

According to some reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyearly this week to discuss allowances for government employees.

During the meeting, which lasted for nearly an hour, the Prime Minister is believed to have indicated that there should not be further delay in giving revised allowances to Central government employees.

Narendra Modi, who leaves for the US trip on Friday night, is expected to attend the next Cabinet meet on June 28, reported a news website.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is currently on a three-day trip to Russia, is likely to table the proposal for revised allowances before the Cabinet at the June 28 meeting.

HERE IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REVISED ALLOWANCE STRUCTURE AND SEVENTH PAY COMMISSION:

During the Modi-Jaitley meet, the issue of House Rent Allowance (HRA) was also taken up. The HRA rates are likely to be fixed at 27 per cent, 18 per cent and 9 per cent respectively for Class X, Y and Z cities.

A report had earlier suggested that Central government employees are likely to get revised allowances, including HRA, from July. For employees, it has been a wait for more than an year since the Modi cabinet okayed the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission in June last year.

The Seventh Pay Commission recommended a 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay for Central government employees, which is the lowest in 70 years. It also recommended doing away with 53 of the 196 allowances that Central government employees get besides subsuming 36 allowances into bigger ones.

The Seventh Pay Commission suggested reducing the HRA rates for Central government employees depending on their type of cities. The decision met stiff opposition from employees.

Subsequently, the Modi government constituted a committee under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa to review the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.

The Ashok Lavasa panel submitted its report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on April 27. Ashok Lavasa said that the Committee on Allowances has taken into account the representations made by various stakeholders.

After the Lavasa panel submitted its report, it was sent to the Department of Expenditure for a first round of review before being placed before the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) for another round of screening.

The Empowered Committee of Secretaries held a meeting on June 1 to discuss the Ashok Lavasa report and forwarded the same to the government.

Recently, in a letter to Central government employees, NJCA general secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra informed them about his meeting with Cabinet Secretary on June 15. NJCA, a representative organisation for government employees, was assured by Cabinet Secretary that "things are in the process and most probably would be placed in the next Cabinet meeting